A total of 16 San Juan District 3 firefighters worked Sunday afternoon to Monday morning to contain a wildfire on the eastern side of uninhabited Satellite Island, next to Stuart Island.

Between 4 and 12 acres were burned, San Juan District 3 Fire Chief Steve Marler said. District 3 is contracted by the state Department of Natural Resources to provide initial firefighting response on DNR land in San Juan County. San Juan Island firefighters spent the night bringing the blaze under control, using materials they took with them on the Sheriff’s boat Guardian, the Friday Harbor town fireboat Confidence, and a state parks landing craft.

Firefighters spent the day Monday extinguishing hot spots. They were relieved by DNR firefighters by 10 a.m. Monday. Marler didn’t know the cause of the fire late Monday; he said DNR sent an investigator to the scene.

Marler thanked the agencies that helped get shifts of local firefighters – almost half of District 3’s firefighting force – to and from Satellite Island.

“Sheriff Bill Cumming and Jim Ricks made plug three or four trips today on the Guardian,” Marler said.

The first shift of firefighters came home to more work at 9 p.m. Sunday; they extinguished a quarter-acre grass fire on Prohaska Lane, near Wold Road. The cause: Illegal fireworks, Marler said.